Mechanisms of Chemical Defense

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There are cases in behavior and ecology of animals or plants repelling predators by chemical defense systems, sometimes by affecting the chemosensory reception of predators. Not much is known about the neural mechanisms by which such defenses work, and in particular how a single prey species may defend itself against more than one predatory species with divergent sensory systems and behaviors. The sea hare Aplysia is a shell-less marine mollusk related to snails, and apparently has two chemical defense systems that work against three kinds of predators, which are lobsters, sea anemones, and teleost fish. This project uses an innovative combination of biochemical, electrophysiological, behavioral and ecological approaches, and the animal is well known enough that molecular approaches are possible in the future. The defensive compounds will be isolated, and experiments will test among alternative mechanisms how these defensive compounds exert their effects on the three very different potential predators. Results will help understand an important mechanism of defensive behavior in the context of sensory neurobiology. The impact of this work extends beyond neuroscience to marine ecology, comparative physiology and biochemistry. In addition, the broader impacts include substantial undergraduate training in a lab with an excellent history of integrating education and training with research, and of including members of under-served groups.